lownote

According to the blurb, "Master volume, balance and bass & treble controls for the Bartolini MK-1 pickups and a Master volume and a tone control for the Piezo system."

I follow the drums. In fact, one of my many weirdnesses is that without a drummer I am f*** all good. With a drummer I have no problem sticking to them like glue. But if I think a drummer is slowing down or speeding up and its not intentional I may intervene to force the pace.

Another vote for Phil Jones. Jewel like quality in tiny packages. If you can afford it the Barefaced One10 is a remarkble tiny cab that can handle up to 500w, yet I have to put a beer glass on it to stop it blowing away. You don't see them around much any more but the Roland 60 and 100/120 offer a great range of sounds in a small package.

i so heard brushes on this. Where's the drummer?

One more sleep until my Ibo 5 string unlined fretless arrives. Well, its actually got a lot of markings which I find totally put-offing, which is teed. But if it's as tasty as everyone says, I will be an excited eight year old whenever Mr Parcel Farce turns up.

This noise thing is odd. I play with three septuagenarians, septu... oh people over 70. They all play without ear protection and they're absolutely deafening. Yet their hearing seems to be no worse than you'd expect at their age. Go figure how some people can get away with it.

I know this question would be better asked in the sax community but I am not aware of any equivalent of BC. So... I may get to play alto in a blues band. They are very noisy. My little horn will not work without help. I have a spare D200 Phil Jones head. I also have a 2x7 Phil Jones bass cab. Might these work on sax? If so, I think most sax mics need phantom power and terminate in an XLR out plug. What do I need to successfully couple said head with a clip on mic? Anyone suggest a good but cheap-ish clip on sax mic.

Nothing will distract me from her. Now, to which clip do you refer? Ah, that one. I'd better watch it again just to check...

I play unlined fretlesses for the same reason, now updated to the nuclear deterrent: 5 string unlined fretless.

I have now watched your 2015 vid over three eight ten eleven times (sigh)

Before I spring for one, anyone got useful input from personal experience?

Generally great sound, both incarnations. Love it. And I don't say that easily... largely because I'm losing my voice at the moment.

On another tack completely @Al Krow, that's not a bad recording in terms of clarity and balance. Can you recall how it was done? Was it just a camera with onboard mic, or was everything put through a mixer before being fed to to the camera?

I think I share the guitarist's inappropriate interest in the vocalist. Damn, and I thought I was past that sort of thing.

Guitarists and keys. The worst is when they're really nice about saying they'll stay off your turf. As if playing at least as well as you is something they just do and are quite happy not to do, stuff that you've taken days or weeks to learn and regard as a major achievement and lapel rub. Reminds me of the physicist Murrary Gell-Mann. When a colleague excitedly brought him a major new discovery, Gell-Mann would p*** on his firework by half opening a desk drawer to glance at notes he'd obviously written long ago, and say: "Yes, you are quite correct."

Take those ridiculous learner strips off. Then you'd have a full stealth fingerboard.

Tonerider are vintage - and also verycheap

You could also consider Entwhistle pups - awesome and cheap as French fries.

Sire V or P series would be like a Fender on steroids in terms of tone selection. Never had one but bespoke ranges like Fodera or Overwater might float your boat. Overwater in particular are favoured by professionals in the West End show pits (US read Broadway). That would be the bright active direction. Or you could go fretless, even unlined fretless: if you like Ibanez, their SR705F Portamento might be different enough for you without going crazy.

My father built the pipe organ for our local church. He also paid for piano lessons with a wizzened crone who kept disappearing into the kitchen every five minutes to return reeking of sherry. When I pointed out to the font of my genes I really needed some way of practising at home the reply was: "I've created a church organ, what more do you want?" As pipe organs don't really have a 'quiet' mode, painfully bad renditions of Chopsticks echoed briefly round the (small) town centre to the acute embarrassment of the 8 year old generating them. I gave up keys very, very soon afterwards.

FWIW I used a fine grade sandpaper (400 or higher) and then finished it with nothing. I did it with some care and didn't try to to get back to the wood, just 'flat it down' a tad. Why put anything on? You've just gone to some effort to take it off.

Out of 40 basses down the years, I’ve only had two I really bonded with. The first was a Peavey Grind 5. As I note elsewhere, I just shelled out on a Sire 5 P7 FL, shiny new, fair bit of money. My ‘other’ bass is a Revelation unlined fretless worth very little (foreground in pic). Like teh Peavey, the Revelation jumps into my lap and plays itself, the Sire doesn’t.